While other freshmen-to-be wile the summer months away, Anthony Capetillo gets started with his new life on campus.

Capetillo, a 17-year-old high school graduate set to start classes this fall at St. Cloud State University, is enrolled in a five-week summer residential program at the university.

He and 40-plus others, many from diverse backgrounds, are learning time management, and study and leadership skills through the Advanced Preparation Program.

The program is one way St. Cloud State tries to ward off what education researchers and academic counselors call "summer melt," the precarious time when some college-bound students fall through the cracks, at risk of abandoning their higher education plans entirely.

Recent studies have boosted awareness of the problem of summer melt. They show that first-generation college students such as Capetillo, as well as those from low-income families, are particularly vulnerable.

Summer melt happens during the weeks when the excitement of acceptance into college has passed. The first day of classes is still weeks away. But support and guidance once provided by high school teachers, counselors and computer labs are no longer available for high school graduates.

Studies by Harvard University's Center for Education Policy Research found that an estimated 20 percent of graduating seniors from urban school districts in places such as greater Boston, suburban Atlanta, Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, abandon their plans to attend college over the summer.

Among prospective community college students, the summer melt rate increases to about 40 percent, said former Harvard researcher Ben Castleman, now an assistant professor of education and public policy at the University of Virginia.

Dwayne Wade reaches for a rope on an obstacle course during St. Cloud State University’s Advanced Preparation Program on July 10 at the Husky Challenge Course in St. Cloud. Teams worked together to help each other with climbing and walking on the obstacle course.(Photo: <252>William Camargo, wcamargo@stcloudtimes.com)

Various approaches

A lack of financial aid is to blame in about half of those cases, Castleman said. But students also wind up getting derailed by much less significant hurdles, from failing to meet course enrollment deadlines to registering for summer orientation programs.

"The idea was that if you could get a kid to graduate from high school, they'd been accepted and chosen where to go, that student was going to show up," he said. "What our work shows is that in fact, students encounter a pretty complicated array of financial and procedural tasks to complete over the summer."

Educators are trying various approaches to combat summer melt. Some are finding it doesn't require drastic intervention.

In St. Louis, a drop-in counseling center helps such students negotiate financial aid agreements, housing contracts and the other many details.

School districts in Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Minnesota and West Virginia are among those using text messages to keep aspiring college students on track.

The Minnesota Office of Higher Education launched such a program on a pilot basis in 2013 for recent graduates of two Twin Cities high schools.

The program was expanded to seven high schools this summer, when it has attracted between 400 and 500 participants, according to Jen Fox, who oversees the program.

Fox said the office hopes to continue expanding the program to more Minnesota high schools. She said it sends text messages urging students to stay on task with financial aid, course registration or housing arrangements.

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Students put on helmets before going on obstacle course for St. Cloud State University’s Advanced Preparation Program on July 10 at the Husky Challenge Course in St. Cloud. Teams worked together to help each other with climbing and walking on the obstacle course.(Photo: William Camargo, wcamargo@stcloudtimes.com)

Personal interaction cited as necessary

At College of St. Benedict and St. John's University, educators say one-on-one work with students and their families is central to their strategy for preventing summer melt.

"There's really nothing to replace the individual, one-on-one connection that has to be made with these students and families as they navigate what is a really confusing transition," said Matt Beirne, director of admission for both campuses.

Beirne says the campuses track summer melt and have worked for years to prevent it. Of an incoming freshman class of about 1,000, Beirne says just 30 have melted off so far this summer.

Capetillo, a Brooklyn Center High School graduate, spoke about the Advanced Preparation Program last week after just a few days in the program. Already, he said it has helped him acclimate to college life.

The program has helped Capetillo plan to avoid common pitfalls for new students, such as not budgeting time wisely.

He also says being in a program with other students of color helps him avoid feeling isolated on a majority-white campus.

Capetillo says he's grateful for the program. He hopes it will catapult him toward his goal of being the first in his family to earn a degree.

"Just being a first-generation (college) student, that's kind of my motivation. Anything that will help me be prepared," Capetillo said. "Not a lot of people have this opportunity.